Mi Amor
by Naodrith
Summary: A twisted, dark love story. The new girl, Shizu, is dating Koushiro, but her eyes are on Jyou, who's in love with Koushiro. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to anyone, she's trying to take over the Digiworld. Jyoushiro, Kensuke.
1. Love at First Sight : Water Wars

A/N: If I owned this, Sorato would never have been born. End of story. Actually, this is the beginning of a story - this story. Shizu is my own creation. Couples involved for sure are Jyoushiro, Kensuke/Daiken, and some other random pairings. You no like, you no read. You do like, you review. Simple, ne? Oh, by the way - this is primarily a /romance/. However, I tend to get caught up in /drama/. If it gets so dramatic the romance is getting shut out, feel free to physically hurt me. Thank you.  
  
Chapter 1: Love at First Sight/Water Wars  
  
Jyou didn't bother to hide the fact that he couldn't stop staring at Koushiro. After all, everyone else knew about his crush on the younger genius, though Koushiro wouldn't notice that if someone shrieked it in his ear.  
  
Yamato tapped the taller boy on the shoulder. "Hey, Jyou, check out the cute chick next to us," the blonde whispered. The male digidestined were standing in line to buy popcorn at a movie theater; the girls had gone in, so as not to miss the previews. Jyou glanced at the "cute chick," eyeing the way her soft, white-blonde hair curled ever-so-slightly at the tips. He grinned as he caught a bit of flustered conversation from somewhere behind him.  
  
"We can still escape! It isn't too late! I'm telling you, Ken, this movie is a bad idea. . . Jun can't stop crying ever since she saw it. . . it's such a chick flick. . ."  
  
"Dai-chan, everyone else is here."  
  
"No one will notice if we run away! Please!"  
  
Jyou glanced back in time to see the indigo-haired boy roll his eyes. "Daisuke Motimiya. When was the last time the digidestined all got together? All twelve of us?"  
  
Daisuke blinked. "There are /twelve/ of us?"  
  
Ken laughed. "Duh! Look, this movie is really important to the girls, so let's at least /pretend/ we enjoy unconditional love for /two hours/. Okay?"  
  
"Uh-oh," Taichi muttered. Jyou looked over at his friend, who was staring at Koushiro. "Uh, don't look now, but I /think/ Koushiro finally noticed that human beings can have different genders."  
  
~Oh, great,~ Jyou thought. ~There goes /any/ chance I ever had with Kou- chan. . .just who does he find so interesting?~  
  
That thought was answered by Yamato. "But /I/ wanted to ask her to sit with us! She's really cute!"  
  
Oh. The /cute/ girl. Jyou had to admit, she /was/ beautiful, if you liked flawless people who seemed to smile perpetually. He didn't. He much preferred the short, redheaded, occasionally quirky genius standing only three feet away.  
  
"Popcorn, please," the pretty girl said, flashing a grin at Jyou, who blinked. Why was she looking at /him/? He didn't like girls; he had pretty much accepted that by now.  
  
The girl gathered up her popcorn and walked over to their line, which was moving forward slowly. "Hello, I'm Shizuko - just Shizu to friends."  
  
"Um. Hi." Jyou didn't know what else to say to her, but Koushiro broke in.  
  
"Jyou, would you mind ordering? I forgot what everyone wanted."  
  
Almost bursting with relief that he didn't have to talk to Shizu, Jyou stepped forward, accidentally brushing against Koushiro. He took out his wallet, trying not to look as if he was eavesdropping.  
  
"I'm Koushiro Izumi. That was Jyou Kido - he's notoriously shy. Do you want to sit with us?"  
  
~Jeez, Kou-chan isn't usually that. . .forward. He must really like her.~ Immediately after processing that thought, Jyou moved to quash the jealousy trying to rise up in him. ~If he likes Shizu, that's okay. She seems /nice/ enough.~  
  
Daisuke's voice rose above whatever Shizu said in reply. "You didn't mention that when you invited me to come, Tai! I /hate/ musicals!"  
  
"Come on, Daisuke, it's supposed to be a really sweet story."  
  
"I HATE SWEETNESS!"  
  
Jyou shook his head and stepped up to the counter. "I'll have five large popcorns, three Pepsis, seven Mountain Dews, and two lemonades, please." He called back over his shoulder, "You guys owe me /big/. This costs a fortune."  
  
Shizu giggled. "Hey, we have two minutes before the movie starts, better get going. . ."  
  
The teenager behind the counter pulled out two trays. "Your friends back there gonna help?"  
  
"Oh, yeah, sure. Kou, can you come get one of these?"  
  
"Hmm? What?"  
  
Jyou silently groaned. It had begun. Koushiro's first crush - and it was on a /girl/. Some girls were all right, but this one seemed fake somehow. "Yama?"  
  
"Sure, Jyou."  
  
The party moved into the theater and found their seats, uncomfortably close to the screen. "This is supposed to be a really romantic movie," Sora said happily. "It was a huge hit in America - almost won Best Picture of the Year."  
  
Hikari wrinkled her nose. "I already saw the movie that won - it was really dumb. This one should be nice. I saved you a seat, Takeru."  
  
Giggle. Blush. Ah, young love. Jyou had been too involved in his studies to ever experience it. . .  
  
Daisuke squirmed around in the seat next to him. "Ken, what's this movie called?"  
  
"Moulin Rouge. It's about love." Jyou thought he caught a strange note in the younger boy's voice, but decided he must have imagined it.  
  
And then the previews started, and everyone got very quiet.  
  
~~  
  
"That was the worst movie I've ever seen," Daisuke groaned.  
  
"I liked it," Ken said, seeming preoccupied. Daisuke followed the taller boy's gaze to Shizu and Koushiro, who were holding hands.  
  
"Are you jealous of Koushiro, Ken?"  
  
"Whaaat?" Ken gasped, flushing very deeply. "No way!"  
  
"You /are/! You like Shizu!"  
  
Ken's blush darknened considerably. "I do /not/ like her."  
  
"I'll see you there," Shizu said cheerfully, striding off. Koushiro watched her, and Ken watched Koushiro, while Daisuke couldn't seem to tear his eyes off of Ken.  
  
Quite suddenly, Miyako shoved Ken and Daisuke apart. "Izzy!" she squealed, hugging him in a friendly sort of way. "Good job with Shizu!" Sora, Mimi, and Hikari converged on him, grinning deviously.  
  
Jyou groaned and sat down on one of the inconvenient benches placed randomly about the lobby. "Jeez. Just when I was starting to think I had a chance, that little - "  
  
"Jyou," Takeru said warningly, casting a pointed glance Iori's way. "There are young minds here."  
  
Taichi threw a friendly arm over Jyou's shoulders. "Hey, come on, snap out of it. Chances are, she'll break his heart, and he'll come running to you, and all will be well - like in the movie."  
  
Jyou blinked. "Satine /died/ in the movie, Tai."  
  
Taichi's jaw dropped. "She /did/? Was that the part where I fell asleep?"  
  
"It was an emotional movie," Iori noted. "Hikari was crying at the end."  
  
Takeru coughed.  
  
"You notice too much," Ken observed, blushing again for no apparent reason.  
  
Yamato grinned quite suddenly. "Hey, Jyou. Why don't the six of us match you up with Koushiro?"  
  
Daisuke gasped. "I thought there were twelve of us!"  
  
"I'm not counting the girls, or the couple. Do the math, Dai."  
  
"I hate math."  
  
"Really?" Ken asked. "I /love/ it."  
  
Taichi narrowed his eyes. "So, how do we go about matchmaking?"  
  
Yamato nodded slowly. "First, we get Shizu out of the picture. Then, Ken and Daisuke can pretend to be in love - just so that Koushiro gets used to shounen ai."  
  
"What?" Ken shrieked, drawing the attention of several moviegoers. "Me and /Daisuke/?"  
  
"Don't sound so disgusted," Daisuke muttered.  
  
Jyou grinned weakly. "Thanks for the offer, but I'd really rather do this myself."  
  
Takeru snorted. "Like we'd let you try! Let me guess - you'd draw him into an intellectually stimulating conversation and then try to kiss him. Won't work! You already like him - you don't want to scare him off. Let /him/ make the first move. And for him to do that, we need bait."  
  
"No, no, and no," Ken snapped. He yanked out his wallet and tossed some yen at Jyou. "For the soda and the popcorn. Keep the change." With that, the indigo-haired boy stalked off.  
  
Yamato blinked. "What's eating him? Some people - well, very few, actually - would /love/ to pretend to like Daisuke."  
  
"Thanks," the redhead said.  
  
"Don't mention it, Dai."  
  
~~  
  
Shizu sat down at her computer and opened the innocently named "Research Report." Actually, the folder had nothing to do with reports, although there was some research involved - mostly programming, It was funny, actually - only six months ago she hadn't even known what HTML meant, and now she was a better computer programmer than Koushiro Izumi and Ken Ichijouji put together.  
  
Six months. Had it really been only six months? Six months since she moved to Odaiba, six months since she had first laid eyes on Jyou Kido.  
  
She had adored him immediately, of course - the way his strangely-colored hair brushed against his chin, the way he adjusted his glasses. He hadn't noticed her. That was back when she had been invisible - the geeky new kid from Tokyo, pimple-faced, with thick glasses and skirts every day.  
  
Then /he/ had given the ordinary girl a way to change her bland appearance. He had altered it very slightly each week until now, when the change was finally complete. The effect on most men was spectacular, especially on Koushiro, but Jyou had barely glanced her way.  
  
She frowned and keyed in a line of code, waiting for the program she had named to pop up. Somehow he /would/ be hers. Even if it required sacrificing part of the other place in the process.  
  
She lifted her microphone to her mouth. "Gazimon."  
  
"Yes, Shizuko?"  
  
"Get the flame legion out into sections A-5 through B-8. I want nothing there tomorrow. Get the digimon out alive - I'll place my artificial skeletons in the destroyed area tomorrow. I want that forest leveled, you hear?"  
  
"Yes, Shizuko."  
  
"Send the lightning legion out to section A-2. Get my Airdramon out there to bring the inhabitants to C-4 and shock the lake. I /need/ those X-ray photos faxed to me /tonight/ of the Seadramon. You copy?"  
  
"Yes, Shizuko."  
  
She closed off the connection and opened another file - the map. She clicked on a small square, magnifying it, and tapped out the sequence again. "Cherrymon?"  
  
"I hear you, Shizuko."  
  
"I'm sending out some Dark Rings now. Make sure the Woodmon are covered, all right?"  
  
"Yes, Shizuko."  
  
She leaned back in her chair, grinning. This was /brilliant/. Ken would appear to be the Kaiser again, while she would be the innocent thirteenth digidestined who just happened to land on top of Jyou when she appeared from the sky. So she was giving up a lake and a forest. The digimon would live, just a bit more cramped. Her Dark Rings wouldn't really affect the Woodmon, who would do anything for her.  
  
Now for the email.  
  
~~  
  
Ken collapsed on his bed, staring up at the ceiling with dull violet eyes. He was /so/ tired. It was now midnight, and he had been up since six that morning.  
  
~Exhaustion. That's why I yelled at Dai-chan. I wasn't thinking properly.~  
  
That was what the indigo-haired child wanted to think. The truth was, Daisuke had touched a nerve just /implying/ that Ken liked Shizu. He /hated/ her, for being perfect, for liking Koushiro. . .  
  
"Ken?"  
  
"Yes, Wormmon?"  
  
"I think you should see this."  
  
The sleepy young genius flapped a hand at Wormmon. "Turn the computer /off/, Wormmon. I'll look in the morning."  
  
"No, I really think you should see this."  
  
Ken groaned and dragged himself over to the computer, squinting against the brightness. "Wow. An email. And this can't wait why?"  
  
Wormmon jumped onto his partner's lap and pointed at the screen. "Look who it's from."  
  
Ken peered at the "From" line. "The Digimon Kaiser. Okay, that's ridiculous. I think I would /know/ if the Kaiser was sending out emails. It's a hoax - probably Dai--" He stopped, his mouth hanging open, as he continued reading silently. Then, slowly, he read it out loud to Wormmon.  
  
" 'I have decided to stop being a digidestined and return to my comfortable, solitary life in the Digiworld. Beginning tomorrow, I will systematically destroy the world. Fight me if you dare." Ken rubbed his eyes. "I can't think, Wormmon. It must be a joke."  
  
"Unless the Kaiser is back."  
  
Ken rolled his eyes. "Look, I refuse to believe it. I don't have time for this, with school and not sleeping well. Besides which, if, somehow, it was the Kaiser, why would he be emailing /me/ about it?"  
  
Wormmon opened his mouth, then paused. "I really don't know."  
  
Ken collapsed back onto his bed. "And I really don't care just now, so leave me alone, Wormmon. We'll straighten everything out in the morning."  
  
~~  
  
Miyako peered around a bush and raised the walkie-talkie to her lips. "Target sighted," she whispered conspiratorially. "She's boarding a school bus. Binoculars?"  
  
Hikari, who had been dubbed a "partner in crime" by her enthusiastic friend, handed over the binoculars. "I can't believe we're spying on her."  
  
Miyako shrugged, staring through the windows. "She's paying the driver. Wow. Wish /I/ were that pretty."  
  
Hikari sighed and grabbed the binoculars. "This is wrong. Especially when we're late for school and no one's heard from Ken and that weird email. . ."  
  
Miyako snatched the binoculars back. "Look, 'kari, Ken's been really tired. He's probably taking the day off, and we all know there's /no/ way he could be the Kaiser again. We're supposed to be helping Koushiro to impress Shizu, remember?"  
  
"I know," the brunette replied, shifting her aching legs.  
  
"The bus is leaving. Bicycle?"  
  
Hikari pulled her friend to her feet. "Miyako, our school is the opposite way from the high school, and we're /late/."  
  
"But I /like/ this!"  
  
Hikari groaned and dragged Miyako over to their bikes.  
  
~~  
  
"Oh, my God," Takeru whispered, staring in horror at the sight before him.  
  
The forest had long since burned to the ground, although dark wisps of smoke still rose to the sky in some places. Everywhere they could see small, pathetic skeletons, bones bleached clean by the fire.  
  
The walkie-talkie crackled. "Daisuke, Takeru," Iori's gravelly voice said. "We have a situation here at the lake. Electricity, apparently. It's mostly dried up, the ground is charred. There's a huge Seadramon skeleton right in the middle."  
  
There was a sort of hissing, and then Miyako came on, sounding distinctly ill. "Koushiro and I found several Woodmon. They didn't see us. Dark Rings. The email was true."  
  
"It can't be," Daisuke snapped vehemently. "How could Ken have possibly done all of this since last night? You saw him after the movie, he couldn't walk straight. I don't think he's had twelve hours of sleep in the past week."  
  
Takeru rested a kind hand on Daisuke's shoulder. "Innocent until proven guilty," the blonde reminded the fiery leader.  
  
Someone on another walkie-talkie snorted. "Isn't this enough proof for you?" Taichi asked cynically.  
  
"No," Daisuke answered immediately. "Look, he was, like, half-dead yesterday, and just last weekend we had a Water War. You don't play Water War with someone you're going to betray."  
  
"Water War?" Takeru asked incredulously, staring at the gogglehead. "You had a /Water War/ with the /Kaiser/?"  
  
"Former Kaiser," Daisuke reminded him. "And he's actually very good at it."  
  
Takeru couldn't help it. Despite the wreckage barely ten feet from him, he doubled over, laughing hysterically.  
  
Koushiro coughed on the other line. "Could we wrap it up? I have a date."  
  
The excursion into the Digiworld ended soon after that, with all the girls shrieking in delight, Koushiro blushing on his end of the system of walkie- talkies, and Takeru suffocating with laughter.  
  
~~  
  
Wormmon poked Ken. "Ken-chan, wake up."  
  
The indigo-haired boy groaned and rolled over, shielding his eyes from the light streaming through the window. "What time is it?"  
  
"Ten something."  
  
"Ten something," Ken repeated. "You didn't give me much time to sleep."  
  
Wormmon blinked. "But you've been asleep for a very long time, and your mom is calling."  
  
"Wha?"  
  
"Ken, there's someone at the door!" Mrs. Ichijouji called.  
  
"C'you get that, Wormie m'dear?" Ken asked, grabbing his pillow and using it to cover his eyes.  
  
". . .sure." The small green digimon bounced off of the bed and out of Ken's room. Moments later, he returned, followed by a nervous-looking redhead.  
  
"Good morning, Ken."  
  
"Hi, Dai-chan."  
  
Daisuke shifted from one foot to the other. "So, have you been sleeping all day now? And what about yesterday?"  
  
"All day? It's only ten."  
  
"Actually, it's 10:57. Almost eleven."  
  
Ken moaned and lifted his pillow to glare at Wormmon. "Wormmon!"  
  
"I can't tell time!" the digimon objected. Ken whipped the pillow at his partner, who scuttled quickly out of the way.  
  
"About the sleeping thing?" Daisuke asked again.  
  
"What? Oh, that. Yes, I've been sleeping since midnight, and before that I was. . . sleeping. I fell asleep over my homework. And yesterday I stayed home. Sleeping."  
  
The redhead blinked. "Jeez, how did you get so far behind in your sleep?"  
  
"If I knew, I would tell you. Is there a reason you - OH. You got that email too, didn't you?"  
  
Ken swung his legs out of the way as Daisuke sat down on the bed. "We all did," the boy confirmed.  
  
Ken groaned, putting a hand dramatically to his head. "And everyone else is morbidly convinced that it was true. Those morons. I don't have the strength to do my homework, let alone rule the Digiworld, not to mention a tiny fact I'd like to call guilt. Do you /really/ think I would /ever/ do anything like that again?"  
  
"I'm not accusing you," Daisuke murmured. "But a forest was burned down, and a lake was dried up, and there are skeletons."  
  
Ken puzzled over that for a moment before raging, "Skeletons? My God, what is /wrong/ with you? There is no such thing as a digimon skeleton. They turn into Digi-dust when they die!"  
  
Daisuke winced, blushing. "Guess we didn't think of that." Quite suddenly, he brightened. "It's Saturday."  
  
"I noticed."  
  
"You said we could have a Water War today."  
  
Ken sat up and almost collapsed, grabbing Daisuke's shoulder to steady himself. "You're on," he gasped. "Just let me wake up a /little/ bit more. . ."  
  
~~  
  
Shizu passed Daisuke's house less than an hour later, a spring in her step. She had a /date/. It wasn't with Jyou, but Koushiro /was/ cute, in his own way.  
  
She paused, staring in shock at the spectacle before her. Daisuke and Ken. Soaked. A pretty enough picture, but not when Daisuke was upturning a soapy bucket of water on his friend's head.  
  
"So they know it's not him," she mused. "Ah, well, doesn't change anything." She continued on, grinning despite herself when Ken relentlessly chased after Daisuke with the hose.  
  
//Shizuko, this is frivolous.//  
  
Shizu groaned and replied mentally, /Can't I have any fun at all? I didn't wish for beauty just because, you know./  
  
//But a date, Shizuko, on a day like this!//  
  
/Shut up./  
  
//I do not have to shut up! I absolutely refuse! Nothing is working out!//  
  
Shizuko absently plucked a leaf from a tree in her path and began to shred it. /Actually, everything is fine from my end./  
  
The voice was silent - exactly what the blonde girl had been hoping for.  
  
Across the street, Ken suddenly stopped in his tracks, his eyes glazed over. "Dai-chan, didn't you say someone burned down a forest?"  
  
Staying clear of the hose, Daisuke walked closer to his friend. "Yeah, so what?"  
  
Ken coughed and sat down, shaking wet tendrils of hair from his eyes. "That's what the Kaiser was planning to do once. I managed to stop him, that time."  
  
"So?"  
  
Ken groaned. "All of a sudden, I have a really bad feeling about all of this. . . " 


	2. Chemistry : Midnight Visit

A/N: Okay, from here on things will get a bit confusing. That dark voice that talks to Shizu calls her hikari, which means light. Unfortunately, that's also Hikari's name. Duh. So, if it's capitalized, it's Hikari Kamiya, and if it's not, it's Shizu. Not really that complicated, if you think about it.  
  
Chapter 2: Chemistry/Midnight Visits  
  
Miyako slid into a booth in the restaurant where Koushiro and Shizu were supposed to meet for lunch. "Sit down, Hika," she whispered fiercely. Hikari sighed and sat down.  
  
"I can't believe we're still spying on them. . ."  
  
"We're /supposed/ to. We're /matchmakers/."  
  
Koushiro waved at them from a nearby table, grinning somewhat foolishly. Hikari waved back.  
  
"Stop it. We don't know him, remember?"  
  
The brunette gazed levelly at her friend. "That's ridiculous and you know it."  
  
The bell on the door jingled as a slender, blonde girl stepped inside. She strode to Koushiro's seat and slid into a chair. "Hi," she murmured, just loud enough for the spies to hear.  
  
"Hi, Shizu," Koushiro managed. "Uh, it's nice to see you again."  
  
She shot a dazzling smile at him. "You too, Kou-chan. Shall we order?"  
  
"Oh. Yeah."  
  
Miyako quickly bent over to lace her shoe. "What are they getting?" she whispered fiercely.  
  
Hikari peered at her friend. "Hamburgers. That's all they really have here."  
  
Miyako straightened quickly, knocking her soda over. "Oops."  
  
As the long-suffering janitor walked to their table, Hikari sighed. "Some spy you are."  
  
~~  
  
The door creaked slowly open, and a blonde girl peered out. Seeing nothing, she stepped out of the house, shivering as the cold of midnight struck her bare legs. Pulling her jacket on, she dashed to the car, the keys in her pocket jingling loudly in the night's stillness.  
  
Jumping into the car, she was about to slam the door and thought better of it, closing it quietly. She slipped the key into the ignition but didn't turn it. "We're stealing a car," she moaned.  
  
A dark figure materialized in the passenger seat. "It's your car."  
  
"Next week it's my car," she replied. "I haven't passed my Driver's Ed test yet. You know that."  
  
"No one will see us, Shizuko," the figure said solemnly. "Run without lights."  
  
Shizu groaned and banged her head on the steering wheel, careful to avoid the horn. "We're. Going. To. Die."  
  
"Run without lights. I will keep us in the shadows."  
  
Shizuko started the car, surprised at how softly it seemed to move. She buckled her seat belt. "Will you tell me where we're going?"  
  
The figure waited until she was out of the driveway before announcing, "Osamu Ichijouji's secret lab."  
  
The blonde teen slammed on the brakes. "/What/ secret lab?"  
  
"It's very complicated."  
  
"Explain or I'm not driving you anywhere."  
  
The dark thing raised a thin hand. His slender fingers turned the mirror to show Shizu her face. "Look well."  
  
Shizu's eyes locked with his. "No. I'll drive."  
  
"Good girl."  
  
It was several miles to the so-called secret lab, and they did not speak. Finally, the shadow instructed her to turn onto a dark street.  
  
"There," he whispered, pointing out onto an open, foggy plain. Shizu parked at the side of the dirt road and got out of the car, gritting her teeth against the cold that wrapped around her legs. She yanked her hood up, teeth chattering.  
  
The figure ignored her, moving on into the mist. Shizu followed quietly, watching as he bent over to examine the ground.  
  
"Give me your hand, Shizuko."  
  
She nodded and crouched beside him, feeling the painful ice of his dark grip. Suddenly, there was a jerk, and they were in a black room. All Shizu could see was a blinking red light. She heard the rustle of the figure moving around. Finally, cold blue lights came on. Shizu gazed in awe at the computer terminal before her.  
  
"Osamu Ichijouji built this place," the shadow whispered. "He wanted somewhere not even his brother would find him. He died, and I took this place. I made it /mine/. It is /mine/."  
  
Shizu leaned against a wall, her breath rattling in her throat. "Whatever, Kai-sama. Just hurry up with whatever you're planning."  
  
The spirit of the Kaiser turned to regard her solemnly. "If I hurry up, something may go wrong. Corrupting only one Gate is very difficult. You know that."  
  
Shizu stepped forward and sank into a chair. "If we're using code, I'd better do it. You'll make mistakes."  
  
The Kaiser sighed and leaned over her shoulder, pointing at a small box in the lower left corner of the monitor. "That one."  
  
~~  
  
It took them until two in the morning to finish corrupting the Gate, mainly because the shadowy Kaiser kept pressing buttons. For someone with such amazing power, he wasn't really as intelligent as he pretended to be.  
  
"Well done," he told her grudgingly when they had finished. He slid a hand into her pocket and took the keys. "I'll drive."  
  
Shizu snatched the keys back. "You can't drive. You've never driven in your life. /I/ will drive."  
  
They didn't speak until they were back at Shizu's house. She collapsed into bed with a soft groan. "I can't believe I have to go to school tomorrow."  
  
The shadow clambered over her to sit against the wall, long legs crossed. "I'll take care of it. Sleep. Your dreams will go well."  
  
Shizu's last coherent thought was, It sure is ironic that what could best be described as a nightmare is guarding my dreams.  
  
The Kaiser watched the pale girl sleep, his dark eyes a mystery. "Two wishes left," he murmured. "How will I manipulate you into wanting power, my little hikari?" This was more difficult for him than it had been with Ken. Shizu wasn't corrupt already; actually, she was somewhat nice, only a little bitter about her former appearance. He had chosen to give her three wishes instead of possessing her, as he had with Ken.  
  
Maybe it had been a mistake. Then again, maybe not. It all depended on how well the Gate worked - or, in this case, how well it /didn't/.  
  
~~  
  
Jyou slid into his seat in Chemistry class, sighing almost absent-mindedly. It was time to get new lab partners. He hated these days. The girls /always/ got to pick, and they /always/ picked Koushiro, the smart one, the only sophomore in the class. He would get picked first, as usual, by one of the popular girls.  
  
Ms. Kasahara clapped her hands. "All right, my chemicals, let's get started by picking new lab partners. Ladies first. Miss Ikura?"  
  
Jyou allowed his mind to wander. He wasn't really much good at chemistry, so he rarely got picked early on. Sometimes it took the popular girls awhile to make a choice, too.  
  
The door opened, admitting a tired-looking blonde. Jyou glanced up and almost fainted in shock. Underneath the dark, heavy makeup and revealing clothes, he /knew/ her. Shizuko.  
  
She strutted to her seat and slid in, brushing a strand of feathery hair behind her ear. "I'm next, Ms. Kasahara."  
  
The teacher frowned. "Miss Koyama, you're late."  
  
"I noticed that. Jyou, would you do me the honor of being my partner?"  
  
Jyou blinked, but obediently moved over to sit beside her. "Why didn't you pick Koushiro?"  
  
"Ami snapped him up before I got here." She smiled at him. "I figure his best friend is just as well, you know?"  
  
"I'm not very good at Chemistry."  
  
Her dark lips twisted into a grin. "I adore chemistry," she purred.  
  
The rest of the class was involved in Ms. Kasahara explaining at some length a simple experiment. Jyou spent most of the time staring at the back of Koushiro's head. To his surprise and luck, the boy who would normally be sitting in front of him, obscuring his view, had left for a meeting of the football team.  
  
Shizu bent over and whispered, "Are you doing anything after school?"  
  
Jyou blinked. "Aren't you dating Koushiro?"  
  
She smiled and softly replied. "Oh, yes, of course, but we're only going to the arcade. I thought you might like to come. Those middle-school friends of yours will probably be there."  
  
~Hikari and Miyako,~ Jyou thought, resigned. "Okay."  
  
Ms. Kasahara stopped lecturing to glare disapprovingly at them. "No courting on campus," she snapped. "It's in the rules - along with no dark makeup for sophomores."  
  
Shizu batted her lashes at the teacher. "We weren't /courting/, and while I am a sophomore, doesn't that part of the dress code only apply to freshmen?"  
  
Ms. Kasahara pursed her lips and went back to teaching. Jyou was tuning her out again when he felt something painful jerk inside him. In front of him, Koushiro twitched suddenly, and out of the corner of his eye he saw Shizu shiver suddenly. Then the pain was gone, and everything was normal again.  
  
Almost everything.  
  
~~  
  
Ten minutes earlier, Ken sat in his room, alone except for Wormmon. He was taking yet another day off of school, this time to check up on the Digiworld.  
  
Wormmon poked his partner's leg. "What's that, Ken-chan?"  
  
Ken stared at the map for a few seconds before seeing the small gray flash in one corner. "I'm not sure." He moved the pointer over to the flashing square and clicked. For a moment, nothing happened. Then the screen lurched and fuzzed into a full-color picture.  
  
"What is that thing?" Ken asked, leaning forward to stare at the golden- armored arachnid on the screen.  
  
"I don't know, but I think it's attacking that Woodmon!"  
  
Ken stood up, almost knocking his chair over, and fumbled for his digivice. "Let's go stop it!"  
  
"Ken, wait."  
  
Halted by the serious tone in his friend's voice, Ken glanced down. "What is it?"  
  
"It wouldn't be safe for you just now. You're exhausted. You didn't get any sleep last night. Traveling between worlds is dangerous in your condition."  
  
Ken rolled his eyes. "We've got to get to the bottom of this, and I can't let that Woodmon die. No one else can do it."  
  
"I won't let you go!"  
  
Ken sighed, brushing a strand of indigo hair out of his eyes. "And how would you stop me?"  
  
"I really don't know."  
  
"Digital Gate, open!"  
  
The swirling colors that engulfed the boy seemed quite normal, for an instant at least. Then everything turned pitch black. A cold hand seemed to be trying its best to tear Ken's heart from his chest, and the last thing he knew was that he had landed and there was something very large standing beside him, roaring angrily. 


	3. The Golden Danger : Kidnapped

A/N: The last chapter was short. I apologize. And this chapter is up late, which isn't my fault - work and stuff.  
  
Chapter 3: The Golden Danger/Kidnapped  
  
Shizu was busy using the last five minutes of Chemistry class to measure out a dangerous acid when the Kaiser slipped back into her mind. //You might want to skip out of school now,// he suggested. //The Gate didn't work quite the way we wanted it to.//  
  
Shizu almost dropped the beaker, profoundly glad that she didn't. /It didn't work?/  
  
//Oh, it worked, Shizuko. It worked perfectly. However, neither of us counted on Tissukamon deciding to take advantage of the situation. An unarmed, unaccompanied, unconscious child is perfect bait for him.//  
  
This time, Shizu /did/ drop the acid, neatly managing to char the floor and make the popular girls scream in horror. The blonde jumped into Jyou's arms, not by accident. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" she cried. /We have to help him. This wasn't supposed to happen, Kai./  
  
Jyou pulled her away from the spreading acid. "At least you didn't spill it on me," he noted.  
  
//That's why I said to skip your last two classes, Shizuko.//  
  
The bell rang, and before Ms. Kasahara could berate her, Shizu reluctantly pulled away from Jyou, leapt over a chair, and dashed out the door.  
  
~~  
  
Ken woke slowly, not opening his eyes. He groaned at the pain that seemed to be trying its best to kill him. "You were right, Wormmon," the boy murmured. "I should /not/ have done that."  
  
Instead of Wormmon's voice, he heard instead a high-pitched, horrified female. "This was /not/ supposed to happen. Let him go at once, Tissukamon."  
  
The answering roar said quite plainly that Tissukamon didn't intend to do so. Ken tried desperately to open his eyes, grimacing at the pain that simple action brought.  
  
The girl sounded stern. "Do /not/ threaten me. We won't allow it, will we, Kaiser?"  
  
Kaiser? That definitely rang a bell in Ken's mind - several, in fact. Alarm bells.  
  
"No, we won't," the familiar shadow's voice responded. "Although, if he's dead set on killing Ken, there really isn't much we can do."  
  
"We have two minutes, Kai. Do something."  
  
"Why do /I/ have to do something? /You're/ the Empress. You do something."  
  
"I am not an empress, Kaiser, and there isn't - oh, crap. They're here. We have to go. Tissukamon, if you hurt him, I might just decide the Digiworld could use a real skeleton or two." Then she and the Kaiser were gone, and all Ken could hear were the sounds of Tissukamon moving. He forced his eyes open.  
  
A golden web seemed to surround him, and beyond it he could make out a huge, golden form and incredibly long, pointy teeth. "Well," he said conversationally, "I can see my death won't be pleasant." ~All I have to do is delay him until Koushiro and the others get here.~  
  
There was a loud thwack and Tissukamon staggered back. Ken smiled as he heard Nefertimon call out, "Rosetta Stone!"  
  
"Ken!" Miyako yelled. The boy rolled over and saw her gazing worriedly into his prison. "Don't touch the web! It's dangerous!"  
  
He dragged himself to his feet, trying to ignore the pain that simple action sent through him. "How dangerous?"  
  
"Like, fatal, Hawkmon said."  
  
"Oh. I guess I'm trapped, then." He moved over to the side of the prison. "Miyako, the Kaiser is back. He's got a new flunky - a girl. He calls her the Empress, but she insists that she isn't."  
  
Miyako gasped melodramatically. "He /is/ back! Oh, my word!" She pretended to faint. "We already knew the Kaiser was back, Ken. We just didn't know he had a girl on his side. Where's Wormmon?"  
  
"I don't know. He's not here, I take it?"  
  
Iori slipped up beside Miyako, grinning. "What an interesting conversation you're having - I mean, considering that there's a battle going on right behind you. Miyako, can I speak with Ken /alone/?"  
  
The purple-haired girl stormed off to direct the battle. Iori glanced around furtively. "Ken, Koushiro isn't here. No one knows where he is. He went home after school to fix his computer, but he hasn't tried to contact any of us."  
  
Ken bit his lip, trying to control the feelings inside. "Maybe it's best he won't be playing the hero, then."  
  
Iori smiled slyly. "Hero worship again? I thought you were over him."  
  
"Yeah, so did I." He stepped back and looked over the golden web. "Just how fatal /is/ this cage?"  
  
Iori shrugged. "Not sure. Do you have a way to get out?"  
  
"You bet. At a dead run."  
  
~~  
  
Shizu stood on a cliff, watching the battle with tears streaming down her face. "This wasn't supposed to happen."  
  
The Kaiser, who had slipped back into his solid form, rested a cold hand on her shoulder. "I know that. Tissukamon shouldn't be in this area."  
  
"What if Ken dies?" she whispered. "What if Jyou dies?"  
  
The Kaiser removed his hand, worried that she might feel his shivering. "They'd be dead, obviously."  
  
She sniffled and sat down, wrapping her thin arms around her knees. "I never meant for anything bad to happen!"  
  
The Kaiser knelt beside her and wiped her tears away, a peculiar ache filling him with sorrow. "No one will die, and this is a golden opportunity to capture your beloved Jyou."  
  
Shizu raised her violet eyes to his shadowy face. "It is, isn't it? How shall we go about it?"  
  
He smiled maliciously. "Leave it to me, my darling. Just leave it to me."  
  
~~  
  
Ken blinked in confusion. "I don't think I'm dead," he murmured to Iori, who grinned. The indigo-haired boy had dashed from his prison, quite unharmed.  
  
Suddenly, Sora screamed. The two boys turned just in time to see Jyou vanish into a dark shadow. "What the heck?" Iori cried.  
  
Ken barely noticed the tingling feeling spreading slowly through his body. "I bet that's the Kaiser and his precious little Empress! Even /I/ never went so far as to kidnap someone!" Remembering Greymon, he amended, "Someone /human/."  
  
Tissukamon roared and shot another of his golden webs at Aquilamon, who managed to fly out of the way before it could hit her. All of the digimon were being excessively careful not to let the webs touch them, although Ken couldn't understand why. He /definitely/ didn't feel dead.  
  
Something tugged on his pants, and he glanced down to see a small purple butterfly. "A present for the last of the Digidestined from the Dark Spirits!" it squeaked. Ken blinked.  
  
"What Dark - ow, that hurt, you stupid little bug!"  
  
The butterfly cackled in its squeaky voice and flew away. Ken bent down to rub at the red welt on his ankle. "I hate bugs," he muttered. "Except my Wormmon, of course."  
  
Iori shrugged. "So it poked you. Get up and try to get hold of Wormmon. We could really use his help."  
  
~~  
  
Jyou adjusted his glasses. "Okay, where am I?"  
  
"You're here, my dear," a familiar voice said. Jyou couldn't quite place it, and the speaker didn't move out of the shadows.  
  
"Um, why?"  
  
"I've loved you forever," she purred. "Finally you are /mine/. I'm not fooling around, Jyou, and I'm not letting you go now that I've got you."  
  
"...really." Jyou glanced around at the large hall he seemed to be in. "So, is this your place?"  
  
Now she sounded offended. "Of course. Don't you like it?"  
  
"It's nice enough," he said slowly, "but I expected torture tools, or at the very least a cage. You disappoint me."  
  
"I just want you to be comfortable, love," she said, her voice going up an octave in agitation.  
  
Jyou shrugged. "I wish you wouldn't call me that, because I certainly don't love you. I don't even like girls."  
  
"You will," she said, her voice threatening. "I'll /make/ you love me."  
  
~~  
  
It took fifteen minutes for the digimon to drive Tissukamon away, suffering only minor scrapes from their frantic dodging. Ken and Iori remained in the background, Ken absently rubbing at the painful cut on his leg. "Stupid butterfly," he muttered.  
  
"All right," Miyako said the minute Tissukamon was out of sight. "Let's go home."  
  
"Miyako, we have to discuss what Ken told us about the Empress," Iori objected.  
  
"Spies wait for no one!" she said cheerfully. "Besides, I've been looking forward to the arcade."  
  
"Spying /again/?" Hikari groaned.  
  
"Sure!"  
  
Takeru sighed. "Well, see you tomorrow, then. I'm going to the arcade too."  
  
"Did everyone get invited except /me/?" Daisuke asked.  
  
"I wasn't invited," Ken volunteered. "You can come over to my house if you want, Dai-chan."  
  
"Yeah, and we'll have lots more fun than they will!"  
  
Ken coughed delicately. "I wasn't implying /fun/, Daisuke. While /they/ have fun, we have to find Jyou, remember?"  
  
"...oh yeah."  
  
~~  
  
Shizu leaned against the wall, her arms folded over her chest. "I suppose you want to go back to your world," she drawled.  
  
Jyou shrugged, staring into the shadows in an attempt to see her. "I don't see any reason to stay here. I've still got homework to finish."  
  
"From now on, you do your Chemistry with /me/."  
  
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"  
  
The Kaiser materialized beside the blonde girl and leaned toward her, his lips brushing against her ear. "You're not being subtle enough. He's going to think you're insane."  
  
"Well, I am crazy about him," she whispered back, moving away from him.  
  
"You're /obsessing/ over him, Shizuko."  
  
Jyou pulled his glasses down and stared over the top of the frames. "Hello? Are you still there?"  
  
"Of course," she purred. "I'll always be here, watching you..."  
  
The Kaiser sighed, rolling his eyes. "Please, hikari, come back to the /real/ world..."  
  
"Jyou is my world."  
  
Without thinking, the dark spirit slapped her - hard. "Shut up. Just shut up about that. You're getting ridiculous. Send him home, Shizuko!"  
  
Her hand pressed against the bruise forming on her cheek, the girl glared at the Kaiser, then turned her violet eyes back to the confused teenager. "Jyou, dear, you can leave now. But whenever you go near a computer, it will bring you back to me...you'll never escape..."  
  
"Really." He shrugged. "If you say so, psycho chick. Can I have the honor of knowing your name?"  
  
She shook her head, then said out loud for his benefit, "No." She slid down against the wall and beckoned the dark spirit to her. "Ice, please."  
  
"Sure, hikari."  
  
~~  
  
Jyou collapsed on his bed as soon as he got home, having taken a Digital Gate from wherever he had been. "Psycho chick," he muttered. He had heard someone slap her, so they hadn't really been alone. And that comment about Chemistry was just bizarre.  
  
He happened to glance at the clock. "Shoot," he muttered, jumping up. "I'll be late to the arcade if I don't hurry..and I suppose I really should tell my friends that I'm alive...oh, wait, they'll be at the arcade, too. Along with...her." He sighed. /Her/. Koushiro's girlfriend.  
  
Grabbing some money off of the top of his dresser, Jyou dashed out of his room.  
  
~~  
  
Ken sat down on his bed, brushing a strand of indigo hair out of his eyes. "Take a seat," he told Daisuke, waving a hand at the computer chair.  
  
"I still think we should've gone to the arcade," Daisuke muttered.  
  
"Oh, come on," Ken said. "Jyou's in trouble and you want to play video games that will hurt your eyes?"  
  
"It's better than that love movie," Daisuke retorted.  
  
Ken rolled his eyes. "That was a very emotional movie."  
  
"I don't think it was fair that Satine died. She made Christian so sad."  
  
"Yeah, well, that's how love is sometimes."  
  
They sat for a few moments in uncomfortable silence. Ken coughed. "Maybe we should get to work."  
  
"Yeah..."  
  
They activated the Digital Gate, which worked properly this time, and found themselves standing outside a cave. Veemon immediately wandered off to look for food, while Daisuke poked his head into the cave. "It's empty."  
  
"Maybe Jyou's inside where we can't see," Ken suggested. "It /is/ dark in there..." He coughed again. "I must be getting a cold."  
  
Daisuke glanced at his friend, concern evident in his brown eyes. "You're really pale, Ken."  
  
Ken coughed, resting one of his slender hands on a rock. "I just need to sit down for a minute. We /have/ to find Jyou soon."  
  
Daisuke helped Ken into the cave, where the indigo-haired Digidestined collapsed against the wall, shaking with suppressed coughs. "I'm fine," he insisted. "Check your digivice - maybe Jyou's near here."  
  
Daisuke sighed. "Look, this self-sacrificing is all really sweet, but -"  
  
Ken stared at his friend. "Did you just call me /sweet/?"  
  
"Well, you are!" the redhead said defensively.  
  
"Really." Ken sighed and closed his violet eyes. "I'll be fine in a minute, Dai-chan."  
  
Daisuke looked around, pretending that he wasn't as worried as he really was. "You're /really/ pale, Ken. I mean, seriously."  
  
The other boy's eyes snapped open in irritation. "I'm /always/ pale. I don't spend much time in the sun. You know that."  
  
Daisuke shrugged. "It's just that you don't look so good."  
  
"I don't /feel/ so good."  
  
Daisuke wandered farther into the cave, squinting into the darkness. Nothing. They would be safe here for awhile, at least until Ken felt better. Despite his protests, Daisuke /knew/ that something was wrong with his Jogress partner.  
  
And he /definitely/ knew that he didn't want Ken to get hurt.  
  
~~  
  
A/N: Kensuke, anyone? It's so cute! Jyoushiro soon enough... *coughs* Uh, sorry about the lack of digimon and battle scenes...I seem to have forgotten how to write battles. Can anyone tell that I adore the movie Moulin Rouge? 


	4. Poison : At the Arcade

Chapter 4: Poison/At the Arcade  
  
Immediately upon entering the arcade, Jyou found himself being half- strangled by Miyako. "You're back! You're back!" she squealed.  
  
"Ack! Yes, I'm back, now /get off/!" he gasped, struggling to pull away from the exuberant "spy."  
  
Koushiro grinned weakly. "Sorry I couldn't help, Jyou...computer has a virus..."  
  
Jyou forced himself to remain calm, although it didn't really work very well. "That's okay, Kou." He glanced around. "Where's your girlfriend?"  
  
"She's late."  
  
Miyako finally let go of Jyou and disappeared behind a large plant. Jyou could see Hikari and Iori hiding back there as well. Takeru and his brother were playing some kind of shooting game, while the other Digidestined were watching Sora beat Taichi at air hockey. Jyou frowned.  
  
"Is someone missing?"  
  
"Daisuke and Ken," Koushiro replied. "They went back to the Digiworld to look for you - or that's what Miyako said. And she's not the most reliable source."  
  
"Hey!" the purple-haired girl screeched.  
  
"Some spy /you/ are," Hikari muttered. Jyou grinned at the antics of the younger generation of Digidestined.  
  
At that moment, Shizu walked in, her violet eyes slightly wild. Jyou's smile disappeared at the sight of the large, dark bruise on her cheek. "What happened to you?"  
  
"I fell down," she answered. "That's why I was late. I had to go back for a Band-Aid for the scrape on my elbow. Hi, Koushiro!" She threw her arms around his neck and pressed her lips against his, much to the surprise of the genius. Jyou gagged. The giggling from behind the plant really didn't help.  
  
"He has to breathe, Shizu," Yamato commented dryly.  
  
The blonde girl pulled away from her boyfriend, her eyes shining. "What should we do now?"  
  
At that moment, the plant fell over, exposing the three spies. "Takeru," Iori hissed, getting to his feet. "Daisuke and Ken are in trouble."  
  
Takeru looked down at the flashing light on his digivice: you've got mail. He grinned nervously, his blue eyes going pointedly to Shizu. "How do you know that, Iori?"  
  
"Pager," the green-eyed boy replied instantly. "We have to go."  
  
Shizu's eyes were completely innocent. "Perhaps we should /all/ go."  
  
Miyako laughed. "That's not the best idea...come /on/." She dragged the dazed Hikari to her feet and pulled the others out the door.  
  
~~  
  
Ken coughed, sliding down the wall and burying his head in his hands. He trembled slightly; his stomach appeared to be trying to do cartwheels. He had /never/ felt this sick before - not ever. He frowned. Did this have anything to do with that weird little butterfly? What had it said? Something about Dark Spirits...  
  
Before he could come to a rational conclusion, Daisuke returned and crouched down beside him. "Are you okay?"  
  
Ken coughed, trying to nod. "Yeah, I'm just fine."  
  
"I contacted the others."  
  
"That's nice," Ken said, starting to cough again. He felt a hand press against his forehead.  
  
"You're burning up! I think we should just go home..."  
  
"I'll be /fine/," Ken said. However, his words were punctuated by rasping coughs, and he could tell from Daisuke's brown eyes that the other boy didn't believe a word of it.  
  
Something poked Ken's leg, and he glanced down, half-expecting to see the little purple butterfly. "Hi, Wormmon."  
  
Wormmon's soulful blue eyes glittered with concern. "You shouldn't have come back!"  
  
"What do you mean?" Daisuke asked.  
  
"You can't go home /now/. It's incredibly dangerous to go between worlds when you're sick - or tired, as Ken already knows."  
  
Daisuke sighed. "Hopefully, someone else will know what to do - if they ever /get/ here."  
  
Ken sighed and closed his violet eyes. His breath rattled in his throat. "Wormmon...Dark Spirits...what are they?"  
  
"You."  
  
The voice was not Wormmon's, but it was hauntingly familiar to all three. Ken struggled to get up, but Daisuke pushed him back down at they stared into the shadows.  
  
The voice laughed mockingly. "Did you really think I was gone, my hikari?"  
  
"No," Ken gasped. "Not you..."  
  
Wormmon jumped forward, his blue eyes dark with anger. "Get out of here, Kaiser! I'll fight you if I have to but you can't have Ken!"  
  
"I don't want him, fool," the voice said. Daisuke shuddered at the cold tone.  
  
"Then what do you want?" the redhead snapped. "Please...Ken's sick. Just leave us alone...leave us alone!" Daisuke was astonished to find tears gathering in his eyes.  
  
"I just wanted to answer the question." The voice sounded highly offended. Ken coughed again, harder. "Like it or not, my hikari, you're a part of me - like the Empress. That makes you a Dark Spirit - like me."  
  
Ken gasped for breath. Daisuke turned back to him and gently brushed a strand of indigo hair back from his friend's face. Ken shoved Daisuke away with a strength born of fear and stared into the shadows, trembling. "You - you did this to me!"  
  
"No, I didn't," the Kaiser responded, emerging from the darkness. Now that he was no longer in possession of Ken's body, he looked quite different - and yet eerily the same. He wore a plain black uniform and a black cloak. His skin was pale, and his dark hair fell in silken waves to his shoulders. His eyes were a deep indigo-violet, a few shades darker than Ken's amethyst eyes.  
  
"Then what was the butterfly talking about?"  
  
"What butterfly?" Daisuke asked.  
  
The Kaiser laughed sardonically. "Ah, the beautiful creatures of the Dark Ocean. Who would suspect them of carrying my brothers' fury?"  
  
"Wait a minute," Daisuke said, standing slowly. "You have brothers? Like, a family?"  
  
The Kaiser shrugged. "We aren't a very close family. I hold the spirit of Power. The other three are Death, Darkness, and Hatred. We don't really get along." He sighed. "Which is why they spontaneously decided to join forces against the /former/ Emperor."  
  
Ken shuddered. "Damn butterfly," he murmured, leaning against the wall and closing his eyes. "What do you want, Kaiser?"  
  
The Dark Spirit shrugged again. "I don't need you anymore, but that doesn't mean I want to see you dead. Unfortunately, there's very little I can do. There is a cure for the poison of the butterfly, but it will be difficult for you to obtain - and you are in far more danger than it may seem." A sudden frown crossed his face. "Especially since Jyou won't be able to help you...I'll have to speak with the Empress about that. Would you excuse me? Have fun...happy day." With that, he vanished, leaving behind nothing to show that he had ever been there.  
  
"That was...the strangest thing I've ever seen," Daisuke said. "The Kaiser telling us to have fun and have a happy day..."  
  
Ken coughed again. "Where /are/ the others?"  
  
~~  
  
At that moment, the 'others' were trying very hard to get away from Shizu, who had insisted on following them to the school and into the computer lab. She watched in fascination as the Digidestined pretended to write reports.  
  
"And you know all this about whales from memory?" she asked Takeru.  
  
"Uh...well...I read a lot," he said lamely. The truth was, he really didn't know if sperm whales ate giant jellyfish.  
  
Koushiro glanced nervously at his watch. "Maybe we should leave them alone," he suggested.  
  
"This is interesting," the blonde girl objected, smirking despite herself.  
  
//Having fun?//  
  
/Yes, as a matter of fact, I was. What do you want?/  
  
//Ken is dying, hikari. You need to stop that program. He won't survive if Jyou can't help him.//  
  
/That might have been my only chance to capture him. I won't give it up just for Ken. If they would just think about it, I'm sure they can find a cure without Jyou...what's the cure, by the way?/  
  
The Kaiser snorted derisively. //It's a rare plant that grows only in the shade of the Southern Escarpment, my dear hikari. And your army stands on the Southern Escarpment. If you want to help, you have a lot of work to do...//  
  
/But I don't! I just want Jyou!/  
  
//You want to help. You're too soft, Shizuko. Come on. Leave these petty amusements and let's go find something for the army to do - burn down a forest, maybe.//  
  
Shizuko sighed. "I'd better be getting home," she told the Digidestined. "I'll see you tomorrow, Kou-chan..."  
  
//That's another thing. Why are you wasting time on him?//  
  
/Dissention in the ranks. Even if they find out who I am, Koushiro will never, ever believe them./  
  
//That's ridiculous...//  
  
She walked out of the computer lab, then paused. /I thought we burned down a forest yesterday.../  
  
//We did.//  
  
/Then today, how about we knock down Infinity Mountain?/  
  
//Whatever floats your boat. Have fun playing General, Shizuko. Try not to mess up too badly...//  
  
Shizu accidentally spoke out loud. "What? Won't you be there to help?"  
  
He sounded absolutely disgusted. //Family reunion...//  
  
~~  
  
Miyako, Hikari, Takeru, Iori, and Koushiro walked into the cave ten minutes after the Kaiser's departure. Ken grinned slightly.  
  
"You're late..."  
  
"What happened?" Hikari asked, her brown eyes worried.  
  
"I got myself poisoned," Ken told her. "Have a nice day...I'm sure I won't."  
  
Daisuke sighed. "I think the Kaiser really messed up his head. He hasn't been coughing since that creepy shadow left, but he's been talking like that..."  
  
"The Kaiser?"  
  
"What's he doing here?"  
  
"Oh, God, he's /back/?"  
  
Daisuke held up a hand to stop their babbling. "Wormmon says we can't take him to the real world, so I came up with jobs for all of you. Miyako and Iori will go back to the real world and get instant soup and firewood and blankets...you know, survival stuff. Takeru and Hikari, go to the school library and look up stuff about poison and sickness and all that fun medical crap. Koushiro...can you find Jyou for us? I don't want to leave Ken."  
  
Somewhat confused - Daisuke was actually /acting/ like a leader - Koushiro said, "Well, he was following us..."  
  
Iori's green eyes narrowed. "Remember what he said? That some crazy girl has him captured? He won't be able to come here directly if he's a prisoner."  
  
"Then I'll go play hero," Koushiro sighed. "I'd better find Tentomon..."  
  
"I'm coming too," Wormmon said suddenly.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I can't help Ken-chan by staying here. I'll come with you. Maybe I'll see something you miss - since I live here and all."  
  
"I wanna go!" Veemon squealed. Daisuke jumped, having almost forgotten that his partner was there.  
  
"That's right," Gatomon said, jumping out of Hikari's backpack. "We can't do any good by sticking around, but we can try to help rescue Jyou from wherever he's being kept."  
  
"That's always assuming he came with us through the Digital Gate," Takeru murmured, frowning.  
  
Hawkmon clapped his wings together. "Very well, we all know what our jobs are...let's get going!"  
  
The Digidestined and their digimon went separate ways from there, but Daisuke remained with Ken. "How do you feel?" he asked softly.  
  
"Peachy keen," Ken said cheerfully. "Although, my chest hurts and my head is hot...hunky dory."  
  
"Uh-huh..."  
  
"Wasn't that weird? I mean, seeing the Kaiser again? I missed him a little...he was fun."  
  
"No, he wasn't!" Daisuke cried, horrified. "He wasn't fun at all!"  
  
"I dunno," Ken said, yawning. "Maybe that's because he didn't like you...I like you."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I like you." Ken quite suddenly sat up and stared at Daisuke as if seeing him for the first time. "I like you a lot."  
  
Not sure what exactly was going on, Daisuke nodded slowly. "I...like you too. You're my best friend."  
  
Ken threw his arms around Daisuke and hugged him. "I wuv you..."  
  
Daisuke sweatdropped. "I...uh...wuv you too..." ~Jeez...I would almost think that he was drunk, the way he's acting...~  
  
Ken grinned at his friend. "I do! I wuv you!" And to prove it, Ken pressed his lips against Daisuke's. At that point, Daisuke decided to just give up. He really didn't know what was going on anymore.  
  
~~~~  
  
A/N: More Kensuke goodness. Jeez, the Jyoushiro is a long time in coming...but I have plans.../evil/ plans. Bwahaha. Next chapter...a family reunion. How sweet. And General Shizuko commands her armies, and...um...more Kensuke? I dunno...I'm too tired to think...happy day/night... 


	5. Family Reunion : General Shizuko

A/N: From this chapter on, we'll just call the spirit of the Kaiser by his nickname - Kai. For the record, Keiran and Keaira both mean "little and dark." Than means "death" and Cillian means "war." Jiki means "despair." Jikimon is vaguely based on Marvin the Depressed Robot from "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." In fact, one of the conversations in this part is vaguely based on an excerpt from "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe." Funny books. Run off 'n' read them once you're done here. Sorry for the sudden influx of OC's...most of them aren't very important.  
  
Chapter Five: Family Reunion/General Shizuko  
  
  
  
Immediately upon arrival in the Dark Ocean, Kai found himself tackled by two small, giggling forms. "You're back!" the little girl cried, planting sweet, ice-cold kisses on his face.  
  
"Yes, I'm back," he said, pushing his siblings off. The twins grinned at him, and Kai found himself laughing. This must be one of their better days.  
  
The twins looked to be no more than seven. Both had raven-black hair, although the girl grew it long and styled it dramatically. Both had dark eyes and wore black, a sharp contrast to their luminously pale skin. The girl chose to wear a long black dress, while the boy tripped repeatedly over the hem of his black robes.  
  
"Where are our brothers?" Kai asked, glancing around.  
  
The boy shrugged and said, with malicious innocence, "I guess Than's off killing somebody again."  
  
The girl brushed a stray wisp of blue-black hair behind her ear. "Welcome to our realm, Amador," she said grandly, in a strange accent.  
  
"Amador?" Kai objected mildly. It was impossible to take a harsh or angry tone with the joint Spirits of Darkness - their whimsical, innocent natures were not without evil intent, certainly, but they also held the power of influencing people's attitudes toward them.  
  
The girl said something unintelligible in an ancient language to her brother, who chuckled. Kai rolled his eyes. Great. It was one of their /best/ days.  
  
The boy turned his doe-like eyes on his brother. "Keaira says, 'Better to hate as Cillian does than to love and be unaware.'"  
  
"Keaira says many things that no one understands," Kai muttered.  
  
The small girl laughed and whispered something to her brother, still in a language long forgotten. The boy grinned as he translated, "She says, 'I am the Darkness of the Future, thus I see many things better left unseen.'"  
  
At that moment, an old man appeared beside Kai. "Well met, my brother," the man said in a deep, almost sorrowful voice.  
  
Kai inclined his head. "Well met, Than."  
  
Keaira lifted her dark eyes to the old man's face, ran forward, and threw herself into his arms. "Cearo!" she cried, burying her face in his beard.  
  
"Yes, sister dear, I know," Than said, running his wrinkled hands through her luxurious hair. He looked at Kai and said in a stage whisper, "Do you have any idea what she's talking about?"  
  
"Not at all," Kai replied. "Where's Cillian?"  
  
/Kai?/  
  
The Kaiser sighed and turned his thoughts back to Shizu. //What do you want?//  
  
/Jyou came back...what should I do with him?/  
  
//I don't know...try to seduce him again. I'm busy.//  
  
Keaira stopped weeping long enough to glance at Kai. "Amador," she said. "Keiran, tsai est mairae-el amadi keirl'na rei cillian syu cearo."  
  
Keiran looked confused. "She says that love will bring only war and sorrow to the lands of darkness."  
  
"All that?" Kai asked mildly, having learned long ago to pretty much ignore anything his sister said. In fact, he had almost succeeded in forgetting her existence entirely.  
  
There was a slight ripple in the air, and the form of a tall, muscular warrior appeared, shining with an almost tangible darkness. "Hail, my brothers...and my sister."  
  
Keaira sneered, her innocence vanishing in the instant that her other brother appeared. "Cillian," she acknowledged.  
  
"Well met, Cillian," Kai said, sinking deeper into the despair he felt whenever he saw his family.  
  
The vague form of the Dark Spirit of Hatred shrugged. "I don't call this a meeting, since I'll be leaving in a few moments. Mortals /do/ seem to hate a lot, don't they?"  
  
"They're only mortals," Than said.  
  
Keaira said something in her native tongue, something probably very rude. Keiran delicately translated, "They may be mortals, but we must remember that without them, our plane would not exist."  
  
Kai sighed. "Why did you summon us?" he asked his sister, knowing that she was the only one who had time to do such a thing.  
  
She spoke carefully. "I have heard of the one you have chosen to receive your power, and I wished to offer you my assistance in your plans."  
  
"Then why call all of us?"  
  
Keiran coughed uncomfortably. "Well, we don't talk much anymore. I just wanted to say hi."  
  
Cillian snorted. "Well, then, bye. We have better things to do, Keiran." His already shadowy form faded out. Than sighed.  
  
"I will go on with my sorrowful work," he said mournfully. "Did you want my help with that Digidestined who is dying?"  
  
Keaira shook her head before Kai could answer and said something in her strange language. Than nodded and vanished. The small girl stared at her brother and then spoke. Keiran haltingly translated.  
  
"She wishes for you to remember this: love brings delirious happiness for a short while, but a simple wish can tear apart a soul. Be careful what you wish for."  
  
Then the Spirit of Darkness turned and walked off, the two children seeming eventually to melt into one form. Kai sighed, rubbing his suddenly aching head. Encounters with his younger siblings always drove him to the point of insanity. Keaira and Keiran were only one soul embodied in two people, and that sense of visual illusion only heightened the lulling sound of Keaira's language.  
  
Amador. Why had she called him that?  
  
Amador. One of the few words he understood.  
  
Amador. Lover.  
  
What could it possibly mean?  
  
~~  
  
Shizu stood on a cliff, overlooking what Gazimon called the "Empress's Army." No matter how many times she insisted that she wasn't an empress, the Digimon continued to ignore her. She watched as several Woodmon milled around harassing the Gotsumon.  
  
"Gazimon," she murmured. "Bring Jikimon to me."  
  
"Yes, General." The gray rabbit-like creature scampered off as Shizu continued to stare down. It was a good thing she wasn't afraid of heights.  
  
A mournful voice said, "You called, General Shizuko?"  
  
Shizu turned to the Ultimate and groaned inwardly at the mere thought of talking to her. Jikimon was a very intelligent Digimon. She had somehow digivolved from a snake into a cat-like human carrying a staff with a dark jewel on the top. She wore a green hourglass around her neck and a permanently morose expression.  
  
"What's the best way to deploy the troops? I want to knock down Infinity Mountain."  
  
Jikimon sighed, gazing upon her fellow Digimon with undisguised tragedy written on her features. "They'll all die. Rocks to the head - maybe thrown off the top..."  
  
Shizu closed her eyes. "Jikimon, I just want to know the best way of going about it."  
  
The Ultimate turned to the human, her blue eyes sad. "The best way is not to do it at all, because if you do, they'll all die. It's so depressing." Then, very worried, "I'm not getting you down at all, am I? I'd hate to think I was getting you down."  
  
Shizu grit her teeth. "I'm happy. I'm elated. Can you just advise me like you're supposed to do?" Immediately she knew that she had made a mistake in that particular phrasing.  
  
"Advice! You want advice, go to Gennai. My advice will just get us all killed. I'd hate to be responsible for the deaths and/or homicides of several hundred Digimon. This whole war is so depressing. Is it getting you down? It's getting me down, oh, God, I'm /so/ depressed...life! Don't talk to me about life!" She stalked off, presumably to find Gennai, leaving a very confused general behind.  
  
"I wasn't aware that anyone had mentioned life..."  
  
~~  
  
Kai stood beside Cillian, staring down at a very gruesome battlefield and feeling ill. "What plane is this, again?"  
  
"I dunno. A plane." Cillian had an expression of joy on his face. "Those people /hate/ each other. Mostly my work."  
  
"What started this stupid war, again?" Kai asked, wincing as steel flashed in the brightness of the reddish-purple sun.  
  
"One of the black-robed magicians accidentally poisoned the daughter of the king. The girl isn't dead, but the king declared war on all the magicians. The one who started it all is right...there." Cillian pointed at a tall man standing on a hill nearby, concentrating very hard on a writhing column of sand that was decimating the left flank of the attacking army. Kai sighed.  
  
"So it's all over a misunderstanding that wasn't even fatal? I hate war."  
  
"I /love/ it."  
  
Kai snapped then, already feeling more than a little sick from the battle. "Ironic, as you're the Spirit of Hatred!"  
  
Cillian shrugged. "Everyone has to love /something/. I love my job, that's all."  
  
"It's an awful job," Kai muttered. The red-violet sun dropped behind the mountains as night crept up on the armies. The magician on the hill collapsed and was carried off. Kai continued, "I'm glad that my only job is Earth and the Digiworld. These other planes are so..."  
  
"Corrupt? But, dear brother, Earth is far more corrupt than Astaorik. These people kill with magic and swords. Earthlings murder without cause, using guns and nuclear weapons."  
  
"A good point," Kai conceded. "I like Earth, though. At least they think. They've invented plumbing, electricity...which is more than I can say for these people."  
  
Cillian smirked. "But is technology such a good thing? Run along, brother. I have work to do."  
  
Kai turned away from the graphic violence and stepped into a void that would bring him to Shizu's side. He definitely had to stop her from turning the Digiworld into a place like this.  
  
But first, a little side trip. He definitely wanted to talk to Keaira about corruptness...maybe even ask her to contact their father.  
  
~~  
  
Jikimon tapped persistently on the window until the girl inside opened the door. "Can I help you?" Shizu asked irritably, ready to slam the door again.  
  
"Not really," Jikimon replied miserably. "I doubt that very much."  
  
Shizu started to close her office door, but Jikimon stopped her. "No one can help me," she intoned desperately.  
  
"Yes, well, I have a war to plan, and..."  
  
"Not that very many Digimon have tried," the Ultimate went on, completely ignoring Shizu. She slumped forward, her head resting on the door.  
  
Shizu sighed and said crossly, "Is that so?"  
  
"Hardly worth anything to help a depressed Digimon, is it..."  
  
"I'm sorry, Jikimon, but there's not much I can do for you..."  
  
"I mean, what's the point in being kind to a poor, pitiful Digimon without the potential for gratitude?"  
  
"And...you don't have any?" Shizu asked, beginning to be slightly interested. She glanced back at her computer, which was still clicking happily away, and decided to waste a few more seconds on Jikimon.  
  
"I've never had occasion to find out," the Digimon replied dejectedly, banging her head against the door.  
  
Shizu looked at the computer, which beeped insistently in her general direction. "Look, you hopeless piece of digital particles - "  
  
"Aren't you going to ask me what I want?"  
  
Shizu groaned. "Is it worth it?"  
  
"Is anything?" Jikimon responded immediately.  
  
To cut off another rant about life, Shizu quickly snapped, "What do you /want/?"  
  
Jikimon raised her head and gazed mournfully at Shizu. "I'm looking for someone."  
  
"Who?" Shizu hissed.  
  
Jikimon nodded toward the open door a few feet away. "Gazimon. He's out there."  
  
Shizu trembled with barely suppressed rage. "Then why...in God's name...did you ask /me/?"  
  
"I just wanted someone to talk to."  
  
"/What/?"  
  
"Pathetic, isn't it."  
  
Shizu stared in amazement as the catlike humanoid turned and trotted out the door, forgetting to shut it. The blonde girl sighed and collapsed into her swivel chair.  
  
The past few hours had been a nightmare for Shizu. It had only been eight months since she had discovered the Digiworld, and now she was suddenly in charge of an army designed mostly for...absolutely nothing. Apparently, Kai just wanted to mess around with the Digidestined, and he had put her in charge of the army.  
  
First, there had been something resembling a riot when the Woodmon "accidentally" attacked several Gotsumon. It had taken Jikimon's haunted mutterings to calm everyone down, although the general concensus at this point was that the paranoid, depressed Ultimate had to die...preferably very soon. After Shizu had calmed everyone down, Gazimon had reported that Jyou was bored - should they play board games? So, for the past three hours, three Gazimon and a Kiwimon had been playing Monopoly, Twister, and most recently Scrabble with the captive.  
  
Shizu grabbed her glass of Pepsi and took a long drink. Caffeine was very good in a situation like this. She grabbed the mouse and started to plot the best course to Infinity Mountain.  
  
It took a very short time for the effects of the caffeine to wear off, and the girl found herself becoming very, very tired. She picked up her glass and stared in detached wonder at her trembling hand. Then she sighed and slumped forward. The glass tumbled from her nerveless fingers and shattered on the floor.  
  
~~  
  
Jyou sighed as Kiwimon spelled the word "since." Unfortunately, he added about five extra letters, and the human really didn't feel like fixing the mistakes. "Could we play Monopoly again?"  
  
Quite suddenly, a dark-haired young man materialized, looking flustered. "Gazimon, do you know any good doctors?"  
  
"I'm a doctor," Jyou offered. "Well, sort of, anyway..."  
  
The other boy looked him over. "I'm...not sure that's such a good idea. The young lady in question wasn't intending to let you see her..."  
  
"Oh. The psycho chick." Jyou had lost all enthusiasm for Scrabble. "If there's any way I can help..."  
  
After a few moments, the boy sighed. "I'll describe her condition. She apparently collapsed when drinking some kind of carbonated water..."  
  
"Someone spiked her soda?"  
  
"...if that's how you want to say it. Anyway, now she's unconscious and her skin is cold...and she's mumbling in her sleep. Is that a good thing?"  
  
"No, definitely not." Jyou thought that over for a few moments. "There was probably something in her drink, then. Maybe poison? I'm thinking something slow-acting..."  
  
The other boy bit his lip. "Then the universal cure should work?"  
  
"What universal cure?"  
  
"Oh, some plant that grows by the escarpment, which incidentally is about ten feet from here..."  
  
Jyou nodded, then decided to try bargaining. "I'll get this plant for you and help whoever it is that's sick...but you have to let me go give some to my friend."  
  
"If you think it'll help," Kai muttered under his breath. "Okay, we'll get Jikimon to help us, then."  
  
The three Gazimon collapsed in hysterical giggles. "You think she'll help you?" one of them asked. "Even for the general?"  
  
"Ha!" another one laughed. "You know her, she'll say something like death is good, at least it's not as depressing as her life..."  
  
"/Please/..." Kai said, nearly in tears and trying very hard not to break down. "I'm not having a very good day, I don't need Sh - her to die..."  
  
Jyou nodded, satisfied. "My freedom for her life. A good trade." He suddenly thought of something. "Why can't you go get it and leave me here?" Then he hit himself for saying something so stupid.  
  
Kai coughed delicately. "It acts like poison ivy to Digimon, and me...well, I'm allergic. But don't tell anyone..."  
  
~~~~  
  
A/N: That was an abrupt ending...sorry. It gets better next chapter... Here's a little impromptu survey-type thing. We who are Digimon-lovers call our romantic pairings things like "Kensuke" and "Taiora." However, those in the Pokemon fandom say "Rocketshippy" or "Neoshippy." And now I've found out that some Yu-Gi-Oh people are beginning to do "shippy" things as well. Why are we different? Should we remain different? Which is better? Do people /really/ still watch Pokemon? ;) 


	6. I Forgot The Title

A/N: Sorry I'm late! I have been pressured into working almost constantly on a different story by my stupid friends, and my stupid computer sucks. Meh. BTW, the "stuff that makes fire turn pretty colors" is, in fact, real. At least, it is here in Wisconsin. Fairly graphic violence in this chapter - nothing I would watch in the movies, but the book I got the idea from is Young Adult, so...  
  
Chapter Six: The Cure/Illness  
  
  
  
Daisuke sighed heavily. His arms were starting to go numb. After Ken had kissed him, the sick boy had fallen asleep in Daisuke's arms, and the redhead didn't think it would be a good idea to move him in his condition. Plus, it give him a very good opportunity for snuggling...  
  
Quite suddenly Ken opened his eyes and sprang away from Daisuke. Before the redhead could react, Ken knelt, coughed, and vomited. "I don't feel so good," he said faintly.  
  
Daisuke crawled over to his friend - friend, yeah, not anything more - and gently brushed a strand of damp indigo hair out of Ken's eyes. The sick boy grinned weakly and proceeded to throw up again.  
  
~It's getting worse,~ Daisuke thought anxiously. ~What happened to Miyako and Iori?~  
  
~~  
  
The aforementioned duo were currently arguing over breakfast cereal, oblivious to the events transpiring in the Digiworld. "Daisuke told me the other day that he likes Cocoa Puffs best," Iori stated, crossing his arms protectively around the box.  
  
Miyako hid the blue box behind her back. "But Ken told me last Christmas he likes Frosted Flakes!"  
  
"So? He's sick. He'll probably throw it up anyway."  
  
"Exactly! I mean, not exactly!" Miyako took a deep breath. "What I'm /trying/ to say is, he's sick and he deserves what he likes."  
  
"But - but - Tony will give him nightmares!" Iori spluttered, backing away.  
  
"Oh, like all that unhealthy chocolate will do any less!"  
  
Iori sighed. "Why can't we buy both?"  
  
"Because it's /my/ money, you numbskull!"  
  
Iori leaned to the side and stared pointedly at the mostly-full shopping cart. She groaned and stuck the Frosted Flakes in on top of the bacon, then held out her arms. Iori inched backwards and she gave an exasperated sigh. "I won't put it back."  
  
"I don't trust you. I'll carry it," he said. The only problem was that he was already carrying S'mores-flavored Pop-Tarts, a two-liter bottle of root beer, the kind of popcorn you can pop over an open fire, and a bottle of stuff that made fire turn pretty colors. After juggling it all for a few moments, he managed to stagger down the aisle, stopping in front of a display of chocolate graham crackers.  
  
"No," Miyako told him, laboring over the heavy cart. "C'mon, that's all we need, let's go."  
  
"Can't we just - "  
  
"No."  
  
~~  
  
Jyou banged his head against the side of the cliff. His mantra had recently become, ~You're doing this for Koushiro. You're doing this for Koushiro. Don't throw yourself off the cliff, you're doing this for Koushiro...~  
  
It was very hard to stick to the mantra when he was forced to listen to Jikimon's rambling about how depressed she was. At least as far as Jyou could tell, there wasn't one single event in her life that had made her happy. He had never particularly liked psychiatrists, had never imagined becoming one, but for the past hour he had been playing psychiatrist to the pathetic Ultimate.  
  
"So right now you're depressed /why/?" he asked, checking the rope for the nineteenth time. The climbing had been going slow, and he was morbidly convinced that it would fray of old age and drop them both several thousand feet to the ground below.  
  
"Because we're going to find the cure and I'll get what you call 'poison ivy,'" she replied. "And then Shizu will die before we can get back up."  
  
Jyou almost fell off of the cliff at that and was only saved by Jikimon's catlike reflexes and the rope, which, despite his paranoia, was perfectly fine. "/Who/?"  
  
"Shizu." Jikimon gasped theatrically. "Oh, I wasn't supposed to tell you...forget I said it."  
  
"I don't think I can," he said numbly, feeling very dizzy all of a sudden. Shizu. Koushiro's girlfriend. That meant this was /her/ army. /She/ was the one holding him prisoner. /She/ was probably responsible for Ken's condition...  
  
And she was also ill, and nothing would get better until he found the cure.  
  
He carefully inched his way down toward a ledge where a blue-purple plant bloomed, doing his very best to ignore Jikimon's mutterings about her depressingly short memory.  
  
~~  
  
Ken walked in a dream. He knew that it was a dream because there was no way reality could be so vivid. He was barefoot in a desert, stumbling across the hot sands, blinded by the sun. He tripped, fell to his knees, and couldn't get up. His pale skin was turning red with the heat. He gasped, trying to get a breath of cool air, but the air around him was humid and did nothing. He wiped sweat from his forehead and tried to stand, couldn't, fell again, threw up. He hadn't eaten in such a long time, surprising there was anything left to throw up.  
  
And the sun - the sun was there, burning him, blistering his skin, and all over he was too hot - too hot to think about how sick he was. It was so real, but it wasn't, and he knew it. That was what made it so terrifying.  
  
His skin - bubbling up, peeling off, catching fire from the sun that was too hot to be real. Burning, burning. He screamed and reached up to claw at his face, put out the flames, but that made it worse and he couldn't breathe and he was on fire and oh, God, it wasn't real, it could not possibly be real, but it was, oh, it was!  
  
~~  
  
Daisuke had almost drifted off to sleep when he was violently awakened by screaming. He jerked up and saw that Ken was half-awake, shrieking an unearthly scream and clawing at his face, actually drawing blood.  
  
"Ken!" the redhead cried, grabbing the other boy's wrists and holding them tightly, staring in horror at the tears streaming unchecked down Ken's cheek. Ken wrenched away and touched his face, his hair, pulled up his shirt to stare at his stomach in terror.  
  
"Daisuke - " he gasped, throwing himself into his friend's arms, sobbing into Daisuke's chest. "Oh, oh God, Daisuke..."  
  
"Shh," Daisuke murmured, wrapping his arms around Ken. "It will be okay."  
  
"Yeah, just a nightmare," Ken said, voice muffled since his face was pressed against Daisuke's chest. "I'll be okay in a minute." His body shuddered, causing Daisuke to pull him closer.  
  
They both realized at about the same time just exactly how close they were. Ken disentangled himself and went back to leaning against the wall. Daisuke watched his friend, who was shivering, and realized that there were several long, bloody cuts on Ken's face - made by his own hands in his terror. Daisuke shuddered. How awful...  
  
Ken calmed down slowly, but he continued to run his fingers over his face, wincing when his fingernails touched the cuts, still searching for the burns that weren't there.  
  
~~  
  
"I know!" Tentomon buzzed. "We can sing again! This is the song that never ends, yes it goes on and on my friiiiends..."  
  
Koushiro took a deep breath and counted slowly to ten. They had been walking towards the faint red light on his digivice, straight south, but the enthusiastic Digimon had felt the need to sing to pass the time. After a rousing chorus of the "Song That Gets on Everybody's Nerves" Gatomon had decided to teach them various songs that Hikari knew. One can only listen to a badly-mangled version of "Spectacular Spectacular" for so long before one decides never to watch "Moulin Rouge" ever again. Koushiro had put an end to that song, but now...  
  
"Somebody started singin' it not knowin' what it was, and they'll have to keep on singin' it forever just because this is the song that never ends..."  
  
"Shut up," the human muttered.  
  
"Oh, come on," Veemon said in his adorable accent. "You could sing too, ya know."  
  
"I don't want to..."  
  
"I know!" Gomamon said. The seal was curled up in Koushiro's arms, having decided to join them in their quest. "Let's talk about love."  
  
"What?" Koushiro asked, blushing.  
  
"Love," Gomamon repeated. "Um...Jyou likes you."  
  
Koushiro dropped the seal and crossed his arms. "What did you say and what the heck did you mean by it?"  
  
Tentomon laughed and stopped flying. The rest of the Digimon looked faintly amused. "You mean you didn't know? I thought everyone would know by now..."  
  
"About what?"  
  
Gomamon chuckled. "Jyou has a crush on you! I mean, didn't you all know about it?"  
  
Wormmon shook his head. "I just know that Ken likes Koushiro, too."  
  
Koushiro blinked slowly and sat down, pale. "I seem to be popular..."  
  
"I didn't know about it," Gatomon offered, sulking. "Not for sure, anyway..."  
  
"Do you think that makes me feel any better? What am I supposed to do about it? I don't...swing that way. I like girls. I mean, I like Shizu..." He closed his eyes and tried to slow his pounding heart.  
  
"I think they would make a cute couple," Patamon chirped.  
  
"I know that they would," Hawkmon said. "They obviously fancy each other..."  
  
"I do not!" Koushiro cried.  
  
"Oh, come on," Gatomon scoffed. "It's not that hard to tell. Remember when VenomMyostismon was knocking down buildings and I had to shoot Tai with my arrow? You two were holding hands. Maybe no one else noticed - "  
  
"I did," Patamon volunteered.  
  
"So did I," Tentomon noted.  
  
Koushiro blushed. "We were scared. You were shooting two of our friends, after all. Frightening experience."  
  
"Sure," the eight Digimon said as one.  
  
"I was ten years old! And I am /so/ not gay."  
  
Wormmon turned to Gatomon. "That's the same tone of voice Ken used when he told Iori that he was over Koushiro...which he's not..."  
  
Armadillomon laughed. "Same tone of voice Iori used when he told me he was over his fear of water the other day, but he's not. I can tell."  
  
All of them giggled. Koushiro sighed. ~Of all the things that could possibly go wrong today, I find out that two of my best friends are gay and that, apparently, everybody else thinks that I am, too. Great.~  
  
~~  
  
"We need to talk," Daisuke said after a very long silence.  
  
"About what?" Ken asked listlessly.  
  
"Us."  
  
"What us? We're just friends."  
  
"Then why did you say, and I quote, 'I wuv you'?"  
  
Ken blushed and looked away. "Must have been the poison."  
  
"I don't think so." Daisuke took a deep breath and said, very quickly, "Because-if-you-like-me-then-I-think-you-should-know-I-sort-of-like-you- too."  
  
"Just sort of?" Ken asked after a moment. "That's a depressing thought."  
  
They were unable to pursue that thought any further because, at that moment, Miyako and Iori finally arrived, bearing two bags of groceries. Each.  
  
"I got Frosted Flakes," Miyako announced.  
  
"I got Cocoa Puffs," Iori snapped, glaring at her.  
  
"They're both good," Ken said.  
  
Miyako looked closer at him. "What happened to your face?"  
  
"I brought a first aid kit," Iori announced, tossing it to Daisuke. "I'll start the fire and then we'll head off. It's nine in the real world and I'm going to tell your parents that you're both staying at my house."  
  
"Thanks," Daisuke said, wrestling with the first aid kit. It was surprisingly hard to open. Iori had the fire started and had tossed some color-changing powder on it, turning it a sparkly blue.  
  
Miyako pulled some blankets out of one bag and a pillow out of the other. She rapidly set up a bed for Ken and tossed the extra blanket in Daisuke's direction, narrowly missing the fire. "I gotta get home. See you two tomorrow." They left almost as quickly as they had come, leaving the two alone.  
  
Daisuke crawled to Ken's side and pulled out a small tube. "It's supposed to prevent infection," he said. Ken nodded and allowed his friend to smear it on. Quite suddenly, he reached up and grabbed Daisuke's wrist. Their eyes met.  
  
"When I said that I loved you...I'm starting to think I might have meant it."  
  
"The feeling is mutual."  
  
Ken blinked. "Where'd you learn a word like 'mutual'?"  
  
~~~~  
  
A/N: Augh, that's it. I'm cold, tired, I have a test tomorrow that I'm not ready for, and...did I mention I'm cold? Bleh. Um...Jyoushiro update: Koushiro-chan knows o.O Now stop bugging me, I have other things to do.but, um, reviewing doesn't count as bugging ^^;;;; 


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